Press release from Eureka Police Department: 

On 7-12-13 at about 11:45 pm, Officers of the Eureka Police Department responded to the 4000 block of Broadway for an attempted robbery that had just occurred. Dispatch advised that a suspect entered the business, brandished a knife, and demanded cash from the register. The employee refused to do as directed and the suspect fled.

Upon arrival, officers began searching the area for the suspect. While officers searched, the employee was contacted and directed the officers to a nearby motel, which is where he believed the suspect had fled.

A witness was contacted in the parking lot area of the motel and directed the officers to a cottage located to the rear of the motel. The occupants of the cottage were contacted and detained. The employee was brought over to the motel and positively identified one of the occupants as the suspect who attempted to rob the business.

The suspect, identified as Christine Louise Tharp (38 years old of Eureka), was taken into custody. A search incident to arrest located the knife used during the robbery.

Tharp was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on a charge of robbery and is being held on $100,000 bail.

This is an ongoing investigation and further details will be released as they become available.